The Gloster Gladiator (or Gloster
SS.37) was a British-built biplane fighter, used by the Royal Air Force (RAF)
and the Royal Navy (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number
of other air forces during the late 1930s. It was the RAF's last biplane fighter
aircraft and was rendered obsolete by newer monoplane designs even as it was
being introduced. Though often pitted against more formidable foes during the
early days of the Second World War, it acquitted itself reasonably well in
combat.